By Janine L. Weisman | Editor-in-Chief
Good Thursday morning!
Early voting begins today for the Sept. 9 primary and continues until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Find your early voting location at vote.ri.gov or by contacting your local board of canvassers.
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High tide in Wickford is at 2:40 p.m. Low tide is at 7:11 a.m. and 8:22 p.m. Sunset is at 7:38 p.m.
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Federal Highway Administrator Sean McMaster tours the I-95 Missing Move Project with Gov. Dan McKee, U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner at 10 a.m. The project connects Route 95 North to Route 4 South and Route 4 North to Route 95 South. McMaster will then speak to the press about national transportation priorities.
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority Board of Directors meets at 1:30 p.m.
A concrete foundational shaft sits on the western bank of the Seekonk River. It will be drilled into the soil this fall as part of construction on a new westbound Washington Bridge. (Photo by Nancy Lavin/Rhode Island Current)
By Nancy Lavin
A new animated video unveiled at a press conference Wednesday offers Rhode Islanders more insight into the process and pace of construction for the Washington Bridge rebuild. The animation by Walsh Construction Company’s in-house designers — no AI involved, a project manager confirmed — was made public one day before early voting begins in the September primary, where McKee faces Democratic challenger Helena Buonanno Foulkes.
'It's a good day,' Hopkinton Police Chief Mark J. Carrier told reporters Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, after the arraignment of a suspect in two sexual assault cases from 2005. At right is Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)
By Janine L. Weisman
A discarded cigarette butt has led to the arrest of a 41-year-old Woonsocket man accused of raping two women in separate attacks in Hopkinton and North Stonington, Connecticut, 21 years ago. It’s the third case cleared by the Rhode Island Office of Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit formed three years ago. “It’s a good day,” Hopkinton Police Chief Mark J. Carrier told reporters at a press conference. “It’s a good day for Hopkinton. It’s a good day for our community. It’s a good day for the state and the attorney general’s office to make an arrest on this case.”
WPRI moderators Tim White, left, and Ted Nesi, right, are shown from behind with Gov. Dan McKee and Democratic challenger Helena Buonanno Foulkes on stage at Sapinsley Hall at Rhode Island College on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Photo by Corey Welch/WPRI 12)
By Nancy Lavin
Interruptions and insults flew across the stage of Rhode Island College’s Sapinsley Hall auditorium Tuesday night as Gov. Dan McKee and his main Democratic challenger Helena Buonanno Foulkes attempted to school each other in their third and final debate before the primary, hosted by WPRI-TV 12.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer watches a crowd of protesters at Delaney Hall, a detention center, in Newark, New Jersey, on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Ben Ackman/New Jersey Monitor)
By William J. Ford | Maryland Matters
A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld an injunction that bars Department of Homeland Security agents from conducting immigration enforcement "at or near" more than 1,400 houses of worship sprawling across 33 states and the District of Columbia.
Children’s Aid, a 170-year-old organization in New York City, told Stateline in July that their nearly $1 million grant that served 1,200 youth each year was canceled. (Photo Courtesy of Children’s Aid)
By Kelcie Morris-Moseley | Stateline
A federal judge in the District of Columbia issued an order Wednesday blocking U.S. Health and Human Services from implementing sweeping changes to grants under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program while a lawsuit proceeds, but dozens of existing grants that were canceled this summer will remain so for now, unless the administration chooses to reinstate the funds.
ICYMI
Refugee admissions on track to hit record low | Shalina Chatlani, Stateline
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